Chrysler to add jobs at Warren plant

Chrysler Group Chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne speaks at a news conference at the Mack I Engine Plant in Detroit, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. Chrysler plans to add 1,250 jobs at three Detroit-area factories in the near future. Most of the jobs are for a third shift at the Warren truck plant, which will build more Ram pickups. The hiring is another step in Chrysler's comeback from its 2009 government-funded bankruptcy. The company is now majority-owned by Italian automaker Fiat. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Chrysler Group LLC plans to invest $240 million and create 1,250 new job across southeast Michigan over the next several months, adding a third crew at its truck assembly plant in Warren and bringing an engine plant in Detroit back on line.

The addition of the third crew at Warren Truck, employing 1,000 new workers, should be complete by March of 2013, said Sergio Marchionne, Chrysler’s chief executive officer.

“The new Ram 1500 built in Warren is already winning praise for its class-leading fuel economy; we have the strongest pickup truck lineup in the industry,” he said. “Twenty-five miles per gallon is not inconsequential.”

Marchionne did add that the company is still short of the Pentastar engines.

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Consumer demand in the US will remain stable, Marchionne said, though he noted he wanted to see the “fiscal cliff” facing the federal government eliminated.

Marchionne, however, said Chrysler was bullish about the future.

“These investments will help in building a strong and secure Chrysler,” Marchionne said. “Today is another important milestone in living up to the commitment we made more than three and half years ago to our employees, this city, this region and out country to transform this company.

“All of these investments are the direct result of a lot of people who have battled courageously to bring Chrysler back to a state of growth,” he said.

Skeptics need to only see what Chrysler is building.

“Those who doubt we wouldn’t act only have to come here and see how seriously we have taken our responsibility. Today’s program is about investment and jobs,” Marchionne said.

Marchionne said Chrysler also was investing $198 million in the Mack plant to prepare it to build the new Pentastar V6 engine, beginning in early 2014. The investment will also keep in operation the engine Mack I plant, which was threatened with shut down and will create 250 new jobs.

Last month, Chrysler added a third shift at the company’s Jefferson North Assembly plant in Detroit. The plant builds the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango. The Jefferson plant also slated to begin building a new sport utility vehicle for Maserati.

“He has delivered on everything he has negotiated,” said UAW vice president General Holifield, who praised Marchionne for leading the rebuilding Chrysler into a viable enterprise. “Today, it is the fastest rising domestic automaker.”

“There are a lot of beautiful things we’re going to create together,” he said.

“There are not a lot of people who believed in you,” said Detroit Mayor David Bing. However, Chrysler comeback can serve as a model for the rebirth of the City of Detroit.

“He has done a masterful job,” Bing said of Marchionne. “But he hasn’t forgotten about you who do the hard work.”